A Fisker Karma luxury plug-in hybrid is displayed at the Fisker of Orange County dealership in Irvine in a photo from 2012. FILE: STEVEN GEORGES, FOR THE REGISTER

Updated 3:45 p.m. Friday.

Fisker Automotive laid off three-fourths of its remaining 220 workers Friday as the luxury hybrid automaker continues to seek a financial partner or investor.

“Fisker met with a group of employees in our Southern California office to inform them that this is their last day with the company,” the company said in a statement.. “Yesterday, we met with a core group of employees in Southern California to express our desire that they remain with the company while we continue to address the challenges before us. We expect that at the end of the day we will have retained approximately 25 percent of our workforce.”

Workers trickled from Fisker’s Anaheim offices Friday morning, some carrying boxes and others layoff papers. Wayne Karro, who had worked in finance for more than three years, said he was hopeful to the end that layoffs could have been averted.

"There was always a hope we'd do some deal," he said. "Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.”

On his way to the parking lot Karro looked in the direction of three hybrid electric Karmas in the parking lot that were plugged in and charging their batteries. "There's one thing we got right -- the design," he said.

On Friday public relations crisis management firm Sitrick and Company issued the company’s layoff announcement as members of Fisker’s in-house PR team lost their jobs.

By midday, former employees gathered at a pizza place near Fisker’s headquarters for beers and discussion. Fairuz Jane Schlecht, who headed the company’s sustainability program and sourced materials for the car, would have celebrated five years at the company next month. She lamented the loss of what she described as the best place for a designer to work.

“We’re about sensuality. We’re about beauty. We created something that is just normally seen as a functional item -- and we created a jewel. A $110,000, $120,000 piece of jewelry -- and no one in the automotive industry has ever done that,” she said. “We were brothers and sisters -- we all wanted the same things, all of us. We would have done it for free. We loved it so much.”

The automaker has been scrambling since last year to secure additional financing after a series of setbacks for its $100,000 Karma gas-electric hybrid that included recalls, car fires and the loss of more than 300 cars flooded at a New Jersey port during Superstorm Sandy. Fisker stopped production of the Karma last summer after A123, the company's primary lithium ion battery supplier, ran into its own financial problems. A123 filed for bankruptcy protection in October.

With production halted, Fisker began laying off many of its 600 employees. The company placed its remaining 220 workers on a one-week furlough during the last week of March to save money while Fisker officials explored their financial options.

The company had hired Huron Consulting Group to handle day to day operations in January while CEO Tony Posawatz pursued funding and partnerships. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has hired restructuring lawyers Kirkland & Ellis to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing.

Fisker previously raised more than $1.2 billion in private money and secured a $529 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. The federal government, however, cut off the loan in 2011 after the first $193 million because the automaker failed to meet required production and sales milestones. Aoife McCarthy, an Energy Department spokeswoman, declined to comment about Fisker’s latest problems or the status of the loan. She would only say that the department is committed to getting the best outcome for taxpayers.

Last month, the company lost its namesake car designer and co-founder Henrik Fisker, who resigned citing irreconcilable conflicts with other top officials. He turned in his company car when he left and bought a Karma for himself.

“Fisker is ahead of its time,” Henrik Fisker told the Register Friday. “I put it on the market and I’m proud of it….the team at Fisker Automotive has done an amazing (job).”

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